With the Willow Run auto and aircraft manufacturing plant facing the wrecking ball, those attempting to save at least a portion of the plant have brought in a couple of big names with auto and aviation backgrounds to help, among them former GM vice chairman Bob Lutz.

On the market for years, the 332-acre Willow Run plant near Ypsilanti, Michigan – which Henry Ford had built to produce B-24 Liberator bombers during World War II and which after the war became the home for Kaiser-Frazer – has of late been targeted by its owner, the RACER development trust, for destruction if it doesn’t sell by August 1. While it appears that the majority of the property, with an estimated value of $32 million and a total square footage of near 5 million, will indeed be demolished, the nearby Yankee Air Museum has shown interest in a 175,000-square-foot section and has turned to the public to raise enough money to buy it.

“We’re trying to buy the portion that includes the hangar and specifically the doors where all the B-24s rolled out,” said Dennis Norton, director of the Michigan Aerospace Foundation and original founder of the Yankee Air Museum, which currently occupies 90,000 square feet in four facilities. “That’s the most historic piece of the plant.”

Norton said that the foundation needs to raise $8 million before demolition contracts kick in at the beginning of August. The foundation already had some money set aside and was able to raise some more on its own, but needed some heavy hitters to open some doors to potential donors for it, so it brought in Lutz and retired astronaut Jack Lousma. Lutz, a former U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilot, went on to serve in executive positions with Ford, BMW and General Motors over a nearly 50-year career in the auto industry. “Not only is he working with us on attracting donors, but he is a major donor himself,” Norton said.

Built in 1941, the Willow Run plant was at the time the largest industrial building under a single roof and became renowned for churning out a B-24 every day hour using assembly-line methods perfected at Ford. After the war, Ford declined its option to buy the massive plant from the federal government, so the government – through the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the War Assets Administration – ended up leasing, and eventually selling, Willow Run to the newly formed Kaiser-Frazer. Kaiser-Frazer converted Willow Run to automotive production and built cars there from June 1946 to July 1953 before selling the plant to General Motors for $26 million. GM used the plant to build Hydra-Matic transmissions and other powertrain components until December 2010, when it shed the property as part of its bankruptcy. RACER Trust, tasked with finding suitable new owners for a number of former GM properties, has stated that the 72-year-old plant has become an impediment to selling the property.

The Michigan Aerospace Foundation has, to date, raised $3.2 million toward its goal. For more information about the foundation’s fund-raising efforts, visit SavetheBomberPlant.org.

UPDATE (1.August 2013): The Michigan Aerospace Foundation received a two-month extension to raise the funds from the RACER Trust. It has so far raised $4.5 million with $3.5 million left to raise.

UPDATE (2.October 2013): The foundation received another extension to raise funds, this time until November 1. At this point $5 million has been raised.

UPDATE (1.November 2013): The foundation received what is reportedly one last extension, this time until May 1. At this point $6 million has been raised.

I wish we did care more about the almighty dollar, then we would be building manufacturing plants instead of turning them into museums. It’s a shame that our industrial greatness along with all the good paying jobs and American leadership is now past history and not a living testament. This is what happens when you grow government and send an army of inspectors and bureaucrats out onto the landscape like a plague of locusts.

This place was suitable for manufacturing 50 years ago but is almost useless today. A portion should be saved to represent its historic contribution to the country, but most should be converted to a viable use today. It will simply join the many other man made things that used to be.

While I can fully respect the idea of preserving a piece of manufacturing history, the idea of saving an obsolete factory located in an obsolete factory town is not the best use of time or money. Detroit will never be the manufacturing icon it was, and there is no company that needs this factory. In real estate, they call it “highest and best use”, and the building currently does not present the highest and best use of the land it sits on. Demolished, the land is unimproved and is a much lower tax liability for the owner, so the demolition of the plant seems to be the best thing to do. Sorry, but true.

What did Mr. Lutz (with the perfect executive tan and dry-look hair) try to do to save this facility, and more importantly, the jobs it housed, while he was a “vice chairman” (ahem) at GM? Actually, what did Mr. Lutz do during his tenure to try to keep GM out of bankruptcy? Apparently not enough. Looks very much like a John Delorean wannabe who anointed himself a “car guy”. He really shouldn’t be troubling himself with such trivialities – he should be off somewhere enjoying the multiple millions he sucked out of the old GM.

It’s the perfect shade that’s a must-have for corporate executives as well as Washington politicians and news media people. It demonstrates that no matter how very busy you (of course) are, somehow you always have time to catch some rays at the golf course or tanning booth.

Willow Run was in operation right up until 2010. The west end was the most modern transmission plant in the world up to that time. All the machinery was removed by the trust company holding it now, but no way is it in the horrible condition of the old Packard plant. It’s somewhat isolated, protected location prevents scrappers and others from gaining any access.

When I started there, in ’78, there were 14,000 people working there. Every bit of floor space was utilized for production-there were no empty areas anywhere in the plant. Back then, we were taking raw castings in, and putting out maybe 10,000 finished transmissions every day, across 6 product lines. The man that wrote a book on Willow Run visited us once, and remarked that he never would have believed that whole plant could be filled up like it was.

Willow Run Assembly also built most Corvairs (the passenger cars, but not the FCs), along with Novas, and later, the FWD X-Body cars (Citation/Skylark/Omega/Phoenix) of the early to mid ’80s. A “W” in the VIN on a Corvair or Nova indicates a car built at Willow Run.

Today the big wheels (Those that run around in circles) have “declared” the city of Detroit busted, broke, ka-put…….. It is official…BANKRUPCY…. Detroit, and surroundings, are DEAD. Check back in 40 to 50 years to see what got rebuilt. In the mean time, if you go for a visit, take a gun ………………..

Come on Folks! The gov has just labeled the city as being in decay for 50 years due soley to the residents! Lets take union workers, and donor dollars, and turn this building into whatever it takes, move the work out to Willow Run…. space = unlimited, R + D some crazy idea that will end up in Pop. Science, artists = Dads money, re-cycling ventures, hobbyist CAR guys who want to have massive indoor drive and hang 24/7, and when the best spots are taken, lets blow out a side wall, and start collecting more WWII planes for the guys to restore…. Bomber flight is chilling, thrilling, and should be regular! good Luck, Capt. B. Bart, and Service Dog, “Goalieman”.

Both my parents worked in the Willow Run plant and lived in the WILLOW RUN VILLAGE.

In sorting through some of their old records, I have come across a excellent condition copy of the WILLOW RUN VILLAGE PUBLIC HOUSING ADMINISTRATION RESIDENT HANDBOOK, January 1950. Does it have significant value? Would the archiving committee like to acquire it?

In it are such detail as “Flat top buildings, 1 bedroom $26.50
2 bedroom $31.00″ for rent.

Also, in the documents is an April 1952 2 page copy of the MANAGEMENT NEWS LETTER, VOL. 4, NO. 6 from the Public Housing Administration.

I would appreciate comments from anyone in the archiving process or who also lived in the village.